Would it be safer for the allergic child to have a school meal or a packed lunch? This is something to discuss with the family. Many schools are confident they can offer allergic children safe school lunches, and this is probably the ideal in most cases. There is plenty of good, solid advice on our page for school caterers.

Some students may prefer to take a packed lunch as it gives them and their parents control over what they eat. If that's the case, there are a few obvious points to consider – all of them matters of common sense.

Children should be discouraged from sharing each others' packed food.

The dining area should be clean, and milk and other spillages wiped up quickly and efficiently.

Children should wash their hands before and after eating.

There have been a few cases where schools have sat a food-allergic child at a table on his own, to remove all risk from other children's packed food. This is bad for the child's morale and unnecessary from the point of view of safety. Sensible precautions will minimize risk.

However, the issue of peanut butter and nut snacks does need careful consideration and discussions with the family. Although the risks from casual contact with peanut butter have probably been overstated, it might reassure the peanut-allergic child if pupils who bring peanut butter sandwiches to school are placed at a different table.

Nut bans

Some schools choose to enforce 'nut bans', where it is forbidden for any pupil to bring the problem food to school. However, without wishing to undermine the good intentions of any school that has introduced this kind of rule, the Anaphylaxis Campaign believes there are several pitfalls in this approach:

1. It would be impossible to provide an absolute guarantee that the school would be truly nut-free. Without going through pupils' bags and pockets every day, you couldn't be sure that a child hasn't got a Snickers bar tucked away. The danger is that allergic children may be led into a false sense of security.

2. If you ban peanuts, what happens when other parents say they want similar policies implemented in relation to milk, egg, sesame, fish, fresh fruit and latex? One day other serious food allergies may emerge as being as common as peanut.

3. Parents who demand nut-free zones may risk possible confrontation with other parents. In such an atmosphere, the risks may actually increase.

4. There is a strong case for arguing that food-allergic children will gain a better awareness of their allergies, and learn avoidance strategies, if they move in an environment where allergens may turn up unexpectedly. If they are trained to be vigilant, their growing awareness may pay dividends one day when, for example, a friend offers them a biscuit at a party. If they are used to a nut-free environment, they may take the biscuit without thinking.